The Sustainability Imperative - Sustainable Design: The Science of Sustainability and Green Engineering - page 247

latest environmental standards, all because of a baseless complaint ... .The net

result is that the EPA is a job killer.” *
The Detroit Free Press relentlessly attacked the EPA, calling it a “rogue
agency” and devoting large amounts of space to the controversy. Ultimately,
the EPA decided in favor of the steel company, arguing that all of the permits
had been granted correctly and that there were no emission regulations that
would be violated from the emission of dioxin from the facility. In other
words, if there is no standard, the effect of the emissions is not a problem from
a regulatory standpoint.
Arguably, this decision is not whether all the emission guidelines have been
met, but rather, whether the people affected by this facility are being treated
fairly.
Ultimately, Select Steel decided to relocate its plant in Lansing, Michigan,
instead of Flint, saying that they were tired of fighting local groups. Perhaps the
most important “green” lesson from this case is that regulations are merely one
of the drivers in a sound and sustainable design. Pollution limits are but one of
the design specifications. A green design must go beyond regulatory mandates
and must always lead to the best outcome for now and in the future.
* http://www.great-lakes.net/lists/enviro-mich/1998-09/msg00016.html, accessed June 29,
2005.

The Role of the Design Professions

Environmental injustice may seem intractable, but progress is being made. It is
a problem that we are not going to solve in this topic, although we do hope
to give a few pointers on how to recognize and deal with injustice in a manner
consistent with green design. The facts are that environmental inequality exists,
and that often it is the minority populations in our country that bear the brunt
of the pollution. We may help to solve some of these problems if the design
community is increasingly aware of its influence on preventing injustice. As such,
we point out a few things along the way that the individual professional can do
to avoid inadvertently becoming a party to injustice and to take positive steps
in one's profession to be empathic to all clients, not just those who procure our
services directly.
The challenges posed by environmental justice are a blend of legal, moral, and
technical factors with one common outcome (i.e., injustice). But designers are
trained in technical matters. Yes, we practice in a milieu of law, politics, and social
sciences, but our forte is within the realm of applying scientific principles.
The modern design challenge demands that we be better equipped technically
and technologically as well as knowledgable in the social and human sciences.
This calls for a systematic approach to education and practice, which is consistent